Eloy's Challenge

by Kara Timmins

  12

  I didn’t expect it to be so . . .” Eloy said.

  “Stunning,” Neasa finished.

  They looked down into the mouth of a cave, at least five times higher at its apex than Eloy was tall, and just like everything else inside the strange forest, it looked unlike any cave Eloy had ever seen or even dreamed. The mouth of the cavern was jagged like predatory teeth, layered and overlapped with crystals. The glowing purple sphere they had been running toward wasn’t nearly as large as it should have been for the amount it lit up the sky, but the juts and spikes grabbed the spark of the little light that hung tetherless inside the mouth of the cave and bounced the illumination off its many reflective surfaces. The stones that made up the walls were splashed with hues of rich purple, and every piece filtered the light into a glittering array of colors.

  “Are you ready?” Eloy asked.

  “Absolutely,” Neasa said.

  They sidestepped down the other side of the hill and made their way toward the entrance. Eloy’s awe only grew once he got in front of the mouth of the cave, scanning in a wide arch to comprehend it all.

  Neasa walked inside as she craned her neck backward to look at the quartz ceiling. Her stride disturbed fragments of fallen crystal, making an almost melodic tinkling sound with each step. “It looks like a moonless night sky.”

  Eloy moved his head back to see things the way she did and found that the comparison made it more wonderful. Then he noticed unnatural flashes of movement in the shadows and another almost outside of his periphery.

  “Something is up there,” he said, removing his sword. “A few some-things.”

  “Things?” A more familiar tone of caution replaced the breathiness of her awe. “What kind of things?”

  “I don’t know, but we can’t turn back now. Whatever it is hasn’t done anything to us. Yet. Be ready if it does.” Eloy walked into the cave and heard Neasa follow him after a few steps.

  Of all the glittering splendor of the cave, the thing that hit Eloy the most after crossing the threshold was the smell. The aroma was in complete juxtaposition to the beauty. A fetid dankness hung in the air like decomposing matter, like a stagnant pond of waste runoff. Neasa coughed against it, her body rejecting the particulates that undoubtedly swirled unseen around them. If there had been any doubt of the cave being inhabited before, he didn’t have any now.

  He could hear them.

  The farther they walked, the louder the sound of roughness scraping against the crystal points of the cave walls became. Pointed nails tapped against the stone, some fast, some slow. Creatures darted around his periphery. Eloy tried to catch a glimpse, but the creatures were beyond their lantern light by the time he spun to look. Whatever they were, they could quickly traverse the steep sides and ceiling of the cave. If the creatures wanted to cause harm, they wouldn’t have a problem doing it. Each step forward held the promise of a creature dropping down on him. But they hadn’t, so Eloy kept putting one foot in front of the other.

  Eloy and Neasa stayed close to one another as they made their careful way over the uneven cave floor. Ahead of them, a croaking groan of discomfort came from the depth of the cave.

  Neasa stopped walking.

  “Are you okay?” Eloy asked. “Do you need a moment?”

  “I’ve always considered myself wise enough not to walk willingly into so many obvious signs of danger,” she said, her words shaky with nervousness.

  “You don’t have to come with me. You can turn back, and I’ll meet you outside . . . hopefully. I have to go, but you don’t.”

  “No.” She straightened her posture and pulled her shoulders back. “I’ll keep going.”

  “You really don’t have to.”

  “I want to see what’s down there.”

  Another groan ricocheted off the walls.

  “Whatever it is, that noise doesn’t sound threatening,” Eloy said. “More like discomfort, almost as if it’s sick.”

  They moved forward. Every step was a stride away from the comforts they had taken for granted, like air to breathe that wasn’t sticky and hot. It felt pressing and oppressive. Their words to each other became more and more infrequent as they focused on breathing.

  The only companion to the sound of their labored breath was the slithering. Eloy could only see outlines and shadows. Whatever these creatures were, there seemed to be more of them the farther into the cave Eloy and Neasa walked. He wanted to turn back, to leave the creatures alone in their dwelling. He couldn’t. He had to know.

  They walked until they reached a wall.

  “This can’t be the end of the cave.” Neasa crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at the wall. “We both heard something back here.”

  Eloy held out his lantern and scanned the wall from one side to the other until he found the pathway he had been sure he would find.

  “It’s there.” He crouched and looked through the knee-high archway in the wall. “We can crawl through. I can see a glow on the other side.”

  Neasa joined Eloy to look down the narrow, sharp-walled passage. “No hope of a quick retreat after going through that. Nothing about this seems smart. It’s like a rat hole into a reptile pit.”

  “Nothing we’ve done since we came into the forest seems like the smart thing to do.”

  “Fair enough,” Neasa said. “Do you want me to go through first?”

  “I’ll go first,” Eloy said, “though I’m not sure if being at the back is any less of a danger.”

  Eloy lowered himself onto his hands and knees and moved through the cramped passage. He took short, quick breaths. The sharp protrusions scraped against the fabric of his shirt, as if he had just escaped a taloned grasp. He tried not to think about how close the walls were around him, what would happen if the ceiling collapsed and left him trapped and crushed, or if the passage wasn’t a passage at all but a tapered trap. He felt like a scrambling rodent by the time they came to the glowing arch of the exit point.

  The light of the room was momentarily disabling with its brightness. More torches blazed in the large space than Eloy had been around in many days, and it took him a moment of hard blinking to adjust to the light. The air felt cooler and cleaner, and he realized after his sight came back to him that the freshness came from an opening in the thick rock of the ceiling.

  “Eloy,” a gritty voice called out from in front of him. “Put your sword away.”

  His attention shot back down from the opening in the rock to whomever had spoken.

  A woman knelt on a mess of chewed and battered animal furs, never cleaned or cured, her body bound and contorted.

  Eloy let his sword drop toward his waist. His mind went blank, rebelling against having to process the idea of the woman’s anguish.

  Holding her in place were four posts equally spaced in a square. Attached to each were countless fraying strands of shimmering thread, all no bigger than stitching yarn, that stretched from the four corners and wrapped around her face in a crude lace mask.

  Eloy recognized the thread.

  Thyrethan silk.

  Thousands of strands woven together made her lace mask.

  If Gwyn treasured the tiniest piece, what had it taken to amass enough to weave these bindings?

  The form of her body bulged and twisted in her bent-over posture. The sounds of discomfort they had heard earlier now made sense. The weakness of her body made it so most of her weight was held by the taut thyrethan ropes. She had wrapped some of the larger animal furs around her lower half, but most of her body was exposed and rippled with distress and age. The stickiness of the thyrethan silk pulled at the delicate skin of her eyelids and kept them in a permanent state of being open. Always seeing. Even as she looked at Eloy and Neasa, the involuntary reflex of blinking met resistance with each attempt, leaving the whites of her eyes a drying yellow.

  �
��You’re the Seer,” Eloy said in a whisper.

  The Seer smiled, her pale skin wrinkling against it.

  Eloy took a step forward, his hands reaching out to free her.

  “Stay where you are,” the woman said. “I’m not here to be saved. Put your sword away. You’re not in any danger here.”

  Eloy looked at Neasa, unsure of what to do.

  The Seer brought her long, thin fingers up to the many fine strands of spider silk and strummed at the ones around her contorted face. “It’s something to see, I imagine.”

  “Who left you like this? Why?” Eloy asked.

  “You aren’t here to ask truths of the past,” the woman said. “But I’ll tell you. Who helped me here? A friend. Why? A Seer has no truth without the ability to see. I was a Seer who lost her sight. In this way, in this place, it’s all I am. I’m the Seer in all truths. I know Amicus sent you on the path that’s brought you here. I know you’re on this quest at a cost. I know the woman you think of when you close your eyes. I know that right now she’s at the tree line, as you used to call it. She’s surrounded by her people, who trust and love her. The sun is shining on her dark hair, and it smells like pine.”

  Every truth snagged at a private, protected place in Eloy’s chest.

  The Seer sighed. “I’m bound like this so I can know. It’s the sacrifice I’ve made. And right now, I’m going to use it to help you, for we have a friend in common. Amicus can see some things, but not all.”

  Eloy took a cleansing breath as he put his sword away. He pushed the thought of Evas sitting in the sunlight out of his head. “So, you know why . . .”

  The scratching slither that accompanied them through their trek through the cave came from behind him, cutting him off. He resisted the urge to pull his sword out again. He dug his nails into the palms of his hands to distract himself from the fear he didn’t want to show. The largest reptiles Eloy had ever seen moved toward the Seer.

  “Keep your fear for things to come,” the Seer said. “My friends here won’t do you any harm. They’ve been with you much longer than you realize, and they’ve kept many dangerous things from harming you. Have no fear of them. There are more important things to focus on in this meeting.”

  The lizards were the size of grown men, some of them even bigger than that. The iridescent scales covering their strong bodies shimmered in the flame light, each segment shifting from emerald to purple—a perfect match to the crystals of the cave. One creature met Eloy’s gaze with its golden eyes and lifted its lips, so similar to flush iridescent tiles, and bared its peg-like teeth. Three reptiles circled the Seer. One crawled against her body and ran a large glistening tongue across her face. The other two curled around the Seer’s bent knobby knees.

  Eloy glanced at Neasa to see if she shared the same expression of uncomfortable realization that he had. How many dark days had these creatures been close, just out of sight? He had wondered at the ease in which he and Neasa had made their way.

  “Why would they protect us?” Eloy asked.

  “Because I asked them to,” the Seer said.

  “Because Amicus asked you to?” Eloy asked.

  The Seer smiled again. “These aren’t the questions you’re here to ask.” She gulped against the bend in her throat and the exertion of speech. “Ask me the questions you’re here to ask.”

  Eloy took a moment to clear his mind and focus on the reason he was there.

  “When Amicus gave me this stone”—he held it out as far as the cord around his neck would allow—“he didn’t tell me what it means, what it opens, or why I have it. I want to know what I’m supposed to do and where I’m supposed to go. I can’t wander around forever. I have to know what I’m supposed to do.”

  “Do you hunger for riches?” the Seer asked.

  “I have to know where this path goes,” Eloy said. “This path was promised to me and no one else, and I know now that I can’t ignore it.”

  “And you need me to tell you where this promised treasure is,” the Seer said. “I can’t do that.”

  “Why?” Eloy didn’t try to hide his surprise.

  “You’re hungry for this treasure,” the Seer said, “and you’ll find your path. I don’t need to tell you how to get to it or what you need to do to succeed. Despite how you feel, your desire for this thing is enough to get you there.” The Seer gulped again.

  “It’s not enough. I don’t know.” His voice rose in frustration, causing the reptiles to stir around the Seer.

  “How can you think to know anything when all you know is through your eyes?” the Seer said. “There’s so much you can’t see or even know that you’re not seeing. There’s no point in having this discussion if you think you know the situation better than I do.” Eloy didn’t sense irritation in what she said. She was a being beyond quick emotion.

  Eloy tried to contain his disappointment. “Is there anything you can tell me that might help?”

  “Of course,” the Seer said. “I wouldn’t have agreed to have you here if I couldn’t or wouldn’t help you.”

  Eloy nodded and let his irritation subside.

  “The path to what you’re looking for will fall into place easily enough,” the Seer said. “Signs of it will be easy to follow. Knowing what to do and where to go is not the issue. The problem with your progress is that something is blocking you. You have to deal with it. Nothing can be done or accomplished if this barricade is not cleared.”

  “What is it?” Eloy asked.

  “You have seen their reach, yet you have never seen their faces. You have known their fists, yet you have not had the chance to hit back. The two are bound by their colors. Red and yellow are the two who block your way.”

  Images jumped forward in his mind—red flags displayed by the men who had forced him off the savanna and yellow flags flown at the Bowl.

  “Nicanor and Anso,” Eloy said.

  “You can’t walk away from them,” the Seer said. “They’ve blocked your way before, and it will happen again. If not dealt with, they’ll trap you in an endless cycle of being caught up in their mess. To see your path, clear away the refuse.”

  “How am I supposed to do that?” Eloy asked. “Both have control over many people. How can I influence the many when I’m just one?”

  “There have been those before you who have moved the many,” the Seer said. “You know this. You’ve met one before. You stayed in her home for many months. Think on her for example and courage. But you need to know how to crack the thick ice in order to get down to the frigid waters. I’ll tell you how.”

  Eloy felt his slumped shoulders lift.

  “Go to the forked road from Valia to the place flagged with yellow,” the Seer continued. “Neasa knows the place I’m referring to. You’ll go there and wait for a man whose garb seems plain, yet the people see it as good as the finest regalia. He is a man of seeming sweetness, welcomed by most and respected by the rest. This man is not what he seems. He is the nectar bribe of the pitcher plant, and many have lost their lives by being beckoned by his sweetness. You’ll take him to the place where yellow flies, and you’ll take him there by force. You’ll be brought to the heart of it all, and it’s there that you’ll peel away the illusion of his power. That’s the crack that will get you in.”

  “What do I do after that?” Eloy asked.

  “You’ll know,” the Seer said. “Keep focused and think on times when you found nonviolent ways around your obstacles. If you succeed in the first endeavor, remember that sometimes a mild affliction can mask the symptoms of a deadly disease.”

  “What does that mean?” Eloy asked.

  “That’s all I have to tell you,” the Seer concluded.

  “Then we’re done?” Eloy asked.

  The Seer nodded, a small movement against the bindings.

  “Is there anything I can do for you?” Eloy aske
d.

  A few muscles twitched around her mouth. “I’ve played my part. That’s enough. Know that there are those who hope for your success.”

  “Thank you,” Eloy said. “Will we have any problems making our way out of the forest?”

  “I will guarantee your exit,” the Seer said. “You need not fear the forest now.”

  “Thank you.” Eloy turned back toward the tunnel, expecting Neasa would turn with him. She didn’t.

  “Neasa,” the Seer said. “You found your way here with dishonesty.”

  Eloy looked at Neasa’s hardened profile in confusion. He inhaled a gust of air and held it, ready to say something when she looked at him with an explanation or an equal befuddlement, but she didn’t look at him. The air burned in his chest, so he let it out, deflated.

  “Your father, Critiko, met with Eloy on the way to Valia,” the Seer said, “and he thought of the message that was foretold to him many years ago about how to find the way to my cave. He needed a young man from nowhere, who came from nothing, who was looking for a path to everything, as his prophesy said. You never really knew what Eloy wanted from this journey, but you were willing to take the risk. But your father was right to put his faith in Eloy, and he sent his daughter, his only living child, out to success instead of death. Congratulations. You were right to think that you had to make Eloy believe you were taking him here instead of the truth, which was for him to bring you.” The Seer kept her tone level.

  Eloy stared at Neasa, wanting her to look at him and deny what the Seer was saying. But Neasa didn’t look, and the words made their way into his understanding. Neasa had lied to him. They had all lied to him. And like a fool, he had danced under their strings. His neck burned with humiliation.

  “But you did help him get here,” the Seer continued, “despite your deceit, and for that you’ll hear what you’ve come here to know. You’re looking for a boy, who you hope is now a man, but your gut knows the truth. Your brother was dead even before you knew he was missing.”